Nissan Almera Review: Bringing Back the Almera

Nissan Almera Review: Bringing Back the Almera

Overview

Remember the Nissan Alemra? From the 90’s? Yup, Nissan are making one again, this time targeting at the entry level sedan market that’s seeing a whole lot of growth at the moment.

It’s the 3rd generation Nissan Almera, and Nissan intend to make this one a big hit. They’re planning on selling the Alemra in just about every country in the world, and while it may or may not be a hit with consumers, Nissan will sell millions and millions of these cars.

Keep reading to see why.

Performance

None to speak of actually. It’s powered by a small 1.5-litre engine, that gives you 73kW. It’s not bad, when you step on the accelerator it moves forwards, but you’re not hunting for performance in this price range.

What does help the Alemra along is the 134Nm of torque, town driving is more than manageable, hills and mountain passes need to be driven with a healthy dose of patience though, as you’re not likely to get up any hill in a hurry.

A 5-speed manual ‘box lets you change gears, and is entirely void of feeling, making it a soft easy gear change.

Economy

Depending on your driving environment, the economy figures can change quite radically. Easy town driving will afford you a respectable fuel consumption. Claimed consumption is 6.3 l/100km, but we only managed to achieve just below 7 l/100km.

The problem with small cars like this, is when you live in an area (like I do) that’s particularly mountainous. I need to drive over a mountain to get to civilisation, and when you’re trying to keep your speed up while climbing a hill your consumption does take a bit of a knock, and you’re quickly in the 8 l/100km range.

Tech

What was a nice feature of the Almera was the digital computer that comes with the Almera. Not a lot of other little cars have them, and while knowing your exact fuel consumption is by no means an absolute necessity, knowing what your expected driving range is, is quite handy.

For the most part, the Almera is pretty basic inside. It’s got a radio that supports MP3, and has an aux input to connect your phone. As an added bonus Nissan have given the steering wheel some volume controls, things usually received for more luxury cars, but we’re seeing more and more these are filtering down to cheaper cars.

Comfort

Ride comfort is good, the suspension is soft and the steering very light, which is fine for town driving, but any kind of vigorous driving over Chapmans Peak may leave your hair standing on end.

Once you get over the fact that in the Almera you just cannot approach any kind of corner with gusto, it’s actually quite a good drive. Everything is light and easy and works as advertised. When making a single car that needs to be able to sell in any market world wide, the Nissan Almera is about as close as you can get.

Practicality

Earlier I mentioned that Nissan will sell these by the bucket load, and besides being a really easy drive that’ll suit just about everybody, the Almera is enormous inside.

If you look at any Almera marketing material they use the phrase “class leading” boot space, and they’re just not kidding.

Even in the back, the leg room is staggering, any adult can sit comfortably and have space between their knees and the front seats.

If you’re a gangster, and need a car that can comfortably transport numerous dead bodies in the boot, consider a Nissan Almera

Conclusion

Despite not being a terribly exciting car, and the styling being a bit iffish. The Almera is going to be a winner for Nissan. It’s well built, offers reasonable performance, good economy, fantastic space and comes at a good price compared to other entry level sedans for sale.

I can see car rental companies buying these, and if you need a car to transport the kids in, then the Almera is a great consideration allowing you to get the kids, all their school and sports kit and even a friend of two in the car without feeling cramped.